Levente-Péter Kolcsár

The crane fly fauna (Diptera, Tipuloidea) of the Balkans remains poorly known, despite recent faunistic and taxonomic research. Here, we present new faunistic data on Limoniidae and Tipulidae from the region. In total, 20 species are reported from Albania, 15 from Montenegro, seven from North Macedonia, three from Bosnia and Herzegovina, three from Serbia, one from Croatia, and one from Bulgaria. Male genitalia of several rare or poorly known species are photographed for the first time. Morphological variation among populations of the rare and poorly known Dactylolabis (Coenolabis) posthabita (Bergroth, 1888) is discussed and illustrated, and a new subspecies, D. (C.) posthabita tothi Kolcsár, ssp. nov ., is described from Hungary.

A longstanding question in ecology and evolutionary biology is which evolutionary mechanisms explain why some species occur frequently while others do not. Previous studies have investigated this phenomenon through computer simulations, empirical studies, and ecological experiments involving a limited number of species. However, community-wide investigations addressing species diversity and underlying genetic diversity in natural settings remain underexplored. To address such species-genetic diversity correlations (SGDC), we employed haplotype-level bulk DNA metabarcoding to infer haplotypes from many aquatic insect species with varying occurrence across 59 sites in the catchment. To examine the relationship between species occurrence and population genetic structure, we assessed the correlations between environmental parameters, female wing length, a proxy for dispersal ability, and haplotype data. We identified 889 haplotypes belonging to 198 taxonomically identified operational taxonomic units (OTUs). While species with higher occurrence in the catchment had greater total genetic diversity across the landscape (ɣ-genetic diversity) and were likely exposed to a wider range of environmental conditions, we found no correlation between species occurrence and genetic differentiation (β-genetic diversity). Furthermore, we observed no significant correlation between local intraspecific genetic diversity and local species diversity (α-SGDC) across all examined OTUs, and only one OTU ( Rhyacophila sp.) showed a correlation between genetic differentiation and community divergence (β-SGDC). These results may be explained by the contrasting factors influencing both levels of biodiversity. Notably, gene flow likely offsets genetic differentiation in the metapopulation, while species sorting appears to influence divergence in the metacommunity. Our findings suggest an alternative approach to studying the relationship between species occurrence, population genetic structure, and SGDC from a community-level perspective. They also have important implications for addressing biodiversity loss driven by rapid environmental changes resulting from human activities and climate change.

Five new Oriental species of Ptychoptera Meigen, 1803 are herein described and illustrated: Ptychoptera hantu Kolcsár & Fasbender, sp. nov . from Singapore, representing the first record of the family from the country; P. phutphi Kolcsár & Fasbender, sp. nov . from western Thailand; P. pseudosimilis Fasbender, sp. nov . from Arunachal Pradesh, India; P. vietnamensis Paramonov, sp. nov . from northwestern Vietnam; and P. srilankaensis Paramonov, sp. nov . from central Sri Lanka. In addition, P. annandalei Brunetti, 1918, P. perbona Alexander, 1946, and P. persimilis Alexander, 1947 are redescribed, with P. annandalei newly recorded from Thailand and P. perbona from both Thailand and Vietnam. Ptychoptera cordata Zhang & Kang, 2021 is synonymized with P. annandalei and P. perbona flaviventris Alexander, 1946 with P. perbona . An updated key for identifying males of the P. formosensis species group is presented.

Despite the more than 15.700 known cranefly species, only a few species have been identified or hypothesized as non-native species. However, in recent years, reports of non-native craneflies in Europe have increased significantly. This work provides a comprehensive list of species either confirmed or suspected to be non-native in Europe, as well as native species that have recently appeared in new countries and are expanding their distribution ranges. Additionally, Atypophthalmus umbratus (de Meijere, 1911) has been reported for the first time in Denmark, within greenhouse environments. Gnophomyia tristissima Osten Sacken, 1860 was observed in a natural habitat in Hungary, marking the second European occurrence of this species. Rhipidia (Rhipidia) domestica Osten Sacken, 1860, and Nephrotoma suturalis wulpiana (Bergroth, 1888) were found in Romania, originating from a plant shop. Furthermore, Tipula (Pterelachisus) trifascingulata Theowald, 1980, from Luxembourg, and Nephrotoma quadrifaria quadrifaria (Meigen, 1804), from Northern European Russia, are reported here for the first time. Achyrolimonia neonebulosa (Alexander, 1924), another recently spearing species, was discovered trapped on the leaves of sundews (Drosera spp.) in the same plant shop where R. domestica and N. s. wulpiana were collected in Romania. These findings underscore the likelihood that these species have already become widely dispersed through plant trade across Europe.

The diverse pressures of climate change have influenced many habitats, especially freshwater ones, due to their greater sensitivity to stressors. Aquatic Diptera make up more than 50% off all aquatic insect species described, which makes them an ideal group to monitor changing climate as their diverse assemblages can reflect functions within the entire community. The aim of this research was to identify variations in the aquatic dipteran community during a 15‐year period at a tufa barrier in a karst barrage lake system and to determine the environmental factors that have the highest influence on this community. We analysed monthly data collected between 2007 and 2021, when we collected adult specimens using 6 pyramid‐type emergence traps. In total, 167 taxa from 13 different families were gathered. NMDS based on Bray–Curtis similarity analysis amongst assemblages revealed the segregation of samples based on different current velocities and substrates, indicating the importance of microhabitats in dipteran community structuring. Dipteran taxa indicative of specific 5‐year time periods within the research were identified and were associated with changes in environmental conditions especially discharge. The threshold indicator taxa analysis revealed specific species' responses to changing discharge rates. The study shows that discharge rate, not water temperature, is the critical factor shaping dipteran composition, whether by removing or adding taxa to the community. Species turnover showed an overall decrease in species numbers, that is, species richness, throughout the research period. We conclude that changes in the dipteran community, because of the vast functional traits, niches, adaptations and species diversity of the group, are not visible when analysing just the diversity indices. When determining environmental influence on the community in long‐term research, they should be combined with other data such as the overall abundance, the total number of species, as well as the species turnover.

Mycomya supernivea Nakamura and Saigusa, 2020 is a recently described large-sized cold-adapted fungus gnat species known from the island of Hokkaido and the northern part of Honshu in Japan. This study reports the species for the first time from Shikoku Island and the central part of Honshu, indicating that the species is more widely distributed throughout the Japanese islands. Additionally, the systematic position of M. supernivae within the genus Mycomya is discussed, and it is placed under the subgenus Mycomya s. str. within the species group M. matrona.

The cranefly (Tipuloidea) fauna of the Western Balkans is still poorly known. In this study, occurrence data of 77 species is reported, of which two species are newly recorded for Albania, eight species for Bosnia and Herzegovina, twelve for Croatia, and seven for Slovenia, respectively. A new species, Baeoura neretvaensis Kolcsár & d’Oliveira, sp. nov. is described from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Slovenia. Images of the habitus, wing, and male and female terminalia of the new species are provided. Furthermore, images of male terminalia and wings of thirteen additional species are presented.

The superfamily Tipuloidea contains the following cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, with 1267 species known in Europe. Recent studies have increased our knowledge regarding these families substantially, but craneflies still represent an understudied group, even in Europe. A previous paper focused on European Limoniidae, summarizing the faunistic and taxonomic papers concerning the family between 2010 and 2020, and reported additional new country records. In this study, the focus is on the other three cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, summarizing taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning these families in Europe between 2010 and 2022. Also presented are 204 occurrence records belonging to one Cylindrotomidae, 23 Pediciidae and 62 Tipulidae species, which represent first country records from various European countries: three from Albania, three from Belarus, one from Belgium, three from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 13 from Bulgaria, two from Cyprus, two from Denmark, three from Estonia, one from Finland, two from Greece, three from Italy, one from Montenegro, one from North Macedonia, six from Norway, six from Poland, four from Portugal, seven from Serbia, four from Slovenia, two from Spain and one from Sweden, and three from the European territory of Russia. In addition of species known already from Russia, six are presented as new from Central European Russia, 26 from East European Russia, six from North Caucasus and six from North European Russia.

Japanese species of the subgenera Oreophila Lackschewitz and Parormosia Alexander of the genus Ormosia Rondani (Limoniidae) are revised. Two new species Ormosia (Oreophila) komazawai Kato & Kolcsár, sp. nov. and Ormosia (Parormosia) phalara Kato & Kolcsár, sp. nov. are described. The identities of all Japanese species of the two subgenera are clarified and redescribed with images of habitus and wings, and drawings of male and female terminalia. The first DNA barcode sequences of the species Ormosia (Parormosia) diversipes Alexander and Ormosia (Parormosia) phalara Kato & Kolcsár, sp. nov. are also provided. A key to, and distribution maps of, the Japanese species are provided.

We summarized the known data on the distribution of Penthetria funebris Meigen, 1804 in Romania, based on old and two new records. We illustrate the male habitus, brachypterous wing, head and terminalia.